The recovered bones represent a single inhumation. The lower legs and feet had been cut away by recent building work. The skeleton is represented by incomplete long bones, skull and pelvis; ribs and spine are highly fragmented. Very few hand bones survived. The majority of the bones were eroded and damaged. Based on the cranial and pelvic morphology the remains are male. The age of death is suggested as 30-40 years, from looking at the dental attrition and the cranial suture closure and appearance of the sacro-iliac articular surface. The only complete long bone, the left femur, would suggest a height of c.174cm. It is possible that the upper left first molar represents a case of arrested caries, and the there was no evidence for a third molar. One anatomical variant was noted, mandibular tori, which is bone swelling on the lingual surface of the mandible. It would appear the burial was hasty due to the torso being flexed to the left so as to fit the pit. There was no evidence of weapon injury, or any cause of death on the bones (1).

Background material from a watching brief at a nearby property describes the burial as an Anglo-Saxon inhumation accompanied by an iron scramasax or seax, dating to the 6th or early 7th century AD. (2)

<1> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 1995, A Chance Find at St Lawrence Forstal, Canterbury (Unpublished document). SKE8310.

<2> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2002, An archaeological watching brief at 134 Old Dover Road, Canterbury (Unpublished document). SKE54981.